Buying holiday home in france

p00hsticks

Greymug said:

A couple of friends bought a holiday property in the French Alps a few months ago.

It's true that all the documents that the estate agent/solicitor/bank send you are in French but for most that's not a problem. My friends don't speak any French but managed to translate and understand everything just by using google translate.

They had no issues whatsoever, no EA trying to trick them, no hidden nasty surprises. Just a long thorough process with a fair bit of paperwork. That's it.

The purchase may have gone through but it's a bit early to say that there won't be any issues if they only bought a few months ago though.....

Skiddaw1

AdrianC said:

OTOH, I know plenty of people who've moved full-time from the UK to France, and regard it as the best thing they ever did...

But they've got involved PROPERLY in their local community. They speak French. They know that they aren't "ex-pats", but immigrants.

The time has gone to do any halfy-halfy. If you don't already have French residence, you aren't going to get it just part-timing. Do it properly, or not at all.

I agree with @AdrianC on this one. I know several people who bought property in France but they bought in order to permanently relocate. We have friends who did the same with other countries (including Germany and Australia) and all went with the intention of assimilating within the community. I've heard some nightmare stories from people who went down the holiday let line.

AFF8879

I’ve thought about doing the same thing many times (I’d love a little holiday house/flat in Arromanches with a view of the sea), but the more I’ve looked into it, the more of a minefield it seems. Even if you go 3-4 times a year, it’ll likely work out cheaper and less stressful to just rent a place each time.

That way you’re also not tied down/feeling wasteful if you want to go somewhere else now and again.

m0t

Our inlaws bought a holiday home in France about 10 years ago, theirs is in a new build complex by the beach in the south of France.

They struggled a lot at the start with the bureaucracy in setting everything up and dealing with the various utility suppliers (wasn't a language barrier but a lot of hoops to jump through). 

For about 5 years things went well and there were friends and family staying there pretty much every week for 8 months of the year.

They then wanted to sell but weren't able to, there was a glut of similar properties in that area and very little market activity. In the end they agreed their estate agents recommendation to rent it out. For the most part that went OK until their tenants stopped paying and it was a nightmare trying to do anything about it, took them a long time to get them out of the apartment.

They still own it with the aim of eventually retiring there but that seems unrealistic with Brexit now.

Greymug

p00hsticks said:

Greymug said:

A couple of friends bought a holiday property in the French Alps a few months ago.

It's true that all the documents that the estate agent/solicitor/bank send you are in French but for most that's not a problem. My friends don't speak any French but managed to translate and understand everything just by using google translate.

They had no issues whatsoever, no EA trying to trick them, no hidden nasty surprises. Just a long thorough process with a fair bit of paperwork. That's it.

The purchase may have gone through but it's a bit early to say that there won't be any issues if they only bought a few months ago though.....

The title of this thread is "buying a holiday home in France", not "owning a holiday home in France" or "life when you have a holiday home in France"

Cakeguts

We are in the process of selling two rental properties in France.  Husband has been a bit ill he is quite mature. Over 70. That, Brexit, the pandemic and my difficulty with speaking normal English means that me learning French well enough to look after them isn't going to work.  It was fun having them and having the rent to pay for your our holidays in our holiday home but it is now time to move on. 

MaryNB

canaldumidi said:

Make sure you understand

* local taxes

* regional national  taxes

* inheritance tax

* inheritance laws - unlike UK you cannot leave property in a will I believe. There is a legal hierachy of claims on the property

Obviously that's on top of Brexit changes to residency rights, health care/benefits etc

There are several good UK websites dedicatade to French property ownership. Use https://duckduckgo.com/ (or google if you insist!)

My mother's friend had a problem relating to this recently. She recently moved back to the UK from France after her husband died. After he died his estranged son was in contact and made an inheritance claim on their French property. Under french law, a will excluding children does not override a child's right to inheritance (or something along those lines). It took her a lot longer to sell the property than she thought.